Thursday, 30 June 2011

The South Bank Show36x04 Disney.PixarI watched the final-ever South Bank Show back in May, but this is the last one I have knocking about to watch.Broadcast in October 2009 (11/10/09, to be precise -- neat date) -- before Up was out, and while The Princess and the Frog was still at a stage where clips here are unfinished -- this edition both recounts the history of Pixar and examines its philosophy, and how this has gone on to influence how Disney is managed today. It doesn't shy away from the problematic history between Pixar and Disney either, which is good. In fact, it's a great demonstration of why The South Bank Show should never have been cancelled: it treats one of the most popular of popular culture things as serious art worthy of examination and documentation. Damn you, ITV.

The biggest change to CLiNT #9, in UK shops tomorrow and US shops in a month, is the lack of articles.

CLiNT was always sold as a collection of comics and articles, with an eye on the newstand mainstream market, almost with comics snuck in there... And it was the articles that suffered the greatest criticism, seen as filler, bland irrelevance in many cases...

That’s all gone. And we’ve got 74 pages of comics [and just 4 pages of articles]. That’s a massive jump in terms of comics content. Titan reps have told me that while the magazine hasn’t succeeded as they’d have liked on the newsstand, it’s had a much bigger reception in comic stores, so it may well be that is reflected in the new mix.

Ironically, this is probably the first issue since the first to attract significant media attention (I've seen several articles about it floating around today, anyway), thanks to the presence of a strip "written" by Jimmy Carr (he's actually just provided the story).

Wimbledon 2011Including Federer's disappointing loss to Tsonga. I like Tsonga -- indeed, he's my favourite player left as we go into the semi-finals -- but I was hoping Federer would win it this year. Hey-ho.[Watch Federer vs Tsonga (again) on iPlayer.]

DC Comics will no longer be structuring its storylines to fit into graphic novel format... Writers have been told to write the story they want to write and not worry about the trade collecting

We'll see how long that lasts -- collected trade paperbacks are incredibly lucrative for comic publishers. That said, if they can turn it back to people buying individual issues it'll earn them even more money.

Friday from the Cheap Seats by Greg Hatcher(from Comics Should Be Good! at Comic Book Resources)Much has been written about DC's big September relaunch, but I don't think I've mentioned it here before. Here's a neat piece of analysis though, of which I think the (lengthy, I know) fifth thought is especially pertinent. The way the comics industry is run looks crazy to any reasonable outsider -- some of the biggest, most recognisable characters/properties in the world selling to and aiming themselves at a tiny hardcore fanbase. DC's #1s idea is a start, but I won't be surprised if a more fundamental overhaul of the whole industry occurs in the next decade. The fans won't like it... but, as always, they'll come along anyway.

Reports that movie studios are abandoning this year’s San Diego Comic-Con have started to circulate... But it does raise one important question: Has Hollywood realized that San Diego was always a waste of their time? ... Why? Well, maybe because we’re just not useful enough.

Insightful. It's also something I've been thinking for years, but studios and/or fans only now seem to be waking up to.

Monday, 27 June 2011

James May's Things You Need to Know1x01 The Human BodyIf more documentaries moved this fast, we'd learn a lot more. And they wouldn't need to be as long. That said, how much of it goes in at this speed is another matter. Interesting while it's on though.[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Horrible Histories with Stephen Fry1x01 Episode 1Kids' series Horrible Histories has proved remarkably popular and awards-winning, despite being 'buried' on CBBC. So, to capitalise on its consistent word-of-mouth, here the BBC edit together highlights from series one & two, with new links by Stephen Fry, and show them to a primetime Sunday audience. Good idea.(Sadly they've not series linked it on iPlayer, so I can't direct you to it if you still missed it. Here's episode two, though.)

The second new Evangelion film isn’t as straight-up enjoyable as the first. It starts incredibly well, but then it feels like its getting too bogged down in the politics of a world that hasn’t been properly established for us and in the intricacies of some thematic considerations — the latter is especially worrying as it was this that made the ending of the TV series so unsatisfactory

Salt’s mystery is one of its strong points. The plot developments are well-paced throughout, shifting our expectations rather than stretching it all for a glut of final act reveals. In this regard... it has twists and follows storylines you wouldn’t expect in a Hollywood summer blockbuster.

the vast majority of the action takes place in a deserted high school commandeered as a temporary military base, where Samuel L. Jackson conducts his interrogation in a sort of one-way-glassed torture tank placed in the gym. So there’s no 24-style thrills as people rush around the city/country hunting out bombs — Unthinkable is wholly reliant on the script and performances to draw us into its story, and its debate.

Friday, 24 June 2011

Penn & Teller: Fool Us1x00 Special1x01 Episode 1This magic series began as a one-off special shown back in January, which was obviously popular because a series of it started last Saturday. I've been meaning to watch the first since it aired (with my typical tardiness, obviously), so this is me catching up before starting the series... which I then went straight into because it's so addictive. Love me some magic.[Watch episode one (again) on ITV Player.]

The BBC Press Office have now released details for 9-15 July... Torchwood: Miracle Day does not feature amongst the highlights listed for that week. ... it would currently seem that Torchwood won't begin on UK television until at least a week after its premiere in the United States [and Canada and Australia].

This is getting silly now. And showing it in the UK 10+ days after the US isn't going to do it any favours -- sure, the fanbase who download will be much smaller than the potential BBC One audience, but they're also the ones that really generate word of mouth, online discussion, etc -- ever so important in keeping a series high-profile and popular these days -- and it massively increases the chances of spoilers, both fan-to-fan and in the press. Plus it's generally annoying and sort of disrespectful -- "it's still a British show"? Yeah, right.

Tuesday, 21 June 2011

Luther2x01 Episode 1
I wasn't sure we'd see the return of Luther, but here it is, in rejigged form as two two-parters. Which would seem to lend itself to the Sunday/Monday broadcast recently afforded Case Histories, but for some reason they've scheduled it across four Tuesdays. Each to their own. Anyway, the rejig they've made so much of in the press running up to the series isn't very significant. Sure, characters are gone and new ones are here, and some of the relationships have changed, but the series still feels the same and functions in the same way. So it's still as awkward, weird, sick, but strangely likeable.[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Mystery Science Theater 30004x24 "Manos" The Hands of Fate [season finale]
Having enjoyed the MST3k movie last year, I decided to start my viewing of the series with perhaps the most famous episode, in which the Satellite of Love gang riff off one of the worst movies of all time. And it truly is a dreadful movie... and, unfortunately, doesn't seem to give them much to work with. It has its moments as an episode, but there were too many long stretches without notable funnies. Though fans do say not to start newbies with this episode, so...
(Incidentally, MST3k follows Family Guy and Robot Chicken as my... I don't know what, really, but it's filling their void. Sure, they had 22-minute and 11-minute episodes respectively, while MST3k runs 90 minutes per episode, but I watched big chunks of the other two, so it kinda works out.)

Monday, 20 June 2011

Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally RevealedShow Two (of 13)As I probably mentioned during BBC One's The Magicians earlier this year, I enjoy magic, but I enjoy even more finding out how the tricks are done. Magicians like to claim this ruins the experience because the reveal is too mundane and never as fun as the trick. Maybe this is true for some, or even most, viewers, but personally, I'm too aware the trick isn't what it says it is (obviously) and find it more impressive how they make it seem to be that way. Anyway, that's a long-winded way of saying I love shows like this, which finally tell us how it's all done. And this was a particularly good edition, answering some things I'd been wondering about for a while.Plus, it's an American show, so it has the bonus of a ridiculously OTT title and a marvellously cheesy voiceover. The narration is so omnipresent I swear it could be classed as an audio description track.I stumbled across this particular edition on Virgin TV's catch-up; ITV Player online currently has four more (with more to come, I hope). I may have to watch those soon...[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

The film concludes with a hair-raising final sequence. I reckon it must be among the most tense, scary and chilling sequences in all of cinema, certainly that I’ve seen. It’s not so much the performances, or the shadow on the wall, or the screeching music — though they all contribute — as the fear of the actual situation: your home, your personal, private, safe space, being invaded, and the first you know of it is an all-too-solid shadow on the wall, coming up the stairs to get you…

if The Thief is known for anything it’s for its dialogue — as the poster proclaims, “not a word is spoken…!” ...it is a fairly straightforward and archetypal story — while it demonstrates that you can tell a story without dialogue, it might leave one wondering about the possibilities for telling a wholly original or truly complex story that way.

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

This week, I add a whole TV series on DVD and upgrade a film trilogy from individual DVDs to a Blu-ray box set, amongst other new acquisitions, so the numbers do all kinds of upping and downing. Love it when that happens.

Friday, 17 June 2011

Channel 4's Comedy GalaC4's second huge comedy event at the O2. I was going to highlight who I thought were the best and worst of the show, but with a whopping 21 acts performing I can't really remember it all... [Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

InjusticeEpisode 5 (of 5)So, that was that. Can't say I was terribly surprised by most of the twists, but there were a couple of curveballs in there, even if, despite the occasionally glacial pace, several threads still went underdeveloped.I reckon Horowitz is angling for a second run too -- not only the open ending, but that needless "created by" credit at the beginning -- not that I'd expect another series to do anything with most of the stories from this tale (which were wrapped up, just not fully explored before they reached their end). Injustice wasn't the best of the current glut of crime dramas on TV, but a second series wouldn't be wholly unwelcome.[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Review: Awkward, uneven Green Lantern packs no punch by Drew McWeeny(from Motion Captured at Hit Fix)This is going to surprise some fanboys who have been salivating over the trailers. Personally, I thought they all looked dreadful and this doesn't surprise me one bit. I don't expect it will connect with a wide audience... but then crap makes tonnes of money at the box office all the time, so we'll have to wait and see.

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

InjusticeEpisode 3 (of 5)Some TV series have to be sliced right back if Hollywood latches on to them for an adaptation (see: State of Play), but I could imagine this quite comfortably squidging down into a two-hour version. Still two episodes to go, mind, but so little has happened that it doesn't feel over halfway through.[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Monday, 13 June 2011

InjusticeEpisode 1 (of 5)New five-part thriller by Anthony Horowitz, which was shown one-per-day last week. Last time ITV had a five-part Horowitz-penned drama in one week it was a bit rubbish, but Injustice gets off to a more promising start bit doesn't hold a candle to recent high-quality output in the genre (the likes of The Shadow Line, for instance), with it's irritatingly clichéd characters and leaden expositional speeches, but it holds promise in some of it's mysteries. It remains to be seen if certain elements have relevance or if that's just a side effect of he odd/sluggish pace.[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

on how the release of The Avengers will affect Iron Man 3... "I guess in comics you can say that it's an individual storyline and you can break it off into a group," said Favreau. "But in movies, it's hard not to take into consideration what just happened. What are you gonna say? 'They all just lost their cell phones and you can't get help?' So it's going to take a lot of ingenuity to make it make sense to a mainstream film audience"

Sunday, 12 June 2011

Case Histories1x01 Case Histories Part 11x02 Case Histories Part 2Adaptation of Kate Atkinson's novel -- she's having a good month! Pretty decent, though the best thing about it was the cute little dog owned by the sisters... so why did they kill him off?! Poor doggy.For the interested, the official BBC site (linked above) has a tonne of articles about the series, many more than they normally bother with.[Watch parts one and two (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Saturday, 11 June 2011

The Mentalist3x24 Strawberries & Cream Part II [season finale]Holy moly, that was a good ending! Where does it go from here though? We'll have to wait ages to find out. Damn you television, with your seasons![Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Paul Merton's Birth of HollywoodPart 2 (of 3)Part 3 (of 3)It's hard not to be angry with the way the industry and press treated Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, as documented in the middle part of Paul Merton's typically interesting series about the rise of Hollywood, though it comes as no surprise to learn William Randolph Hearst was one of the chief villains.The final part, meanwhile, details the end of the silent era and the birth of sound, amongst other things. Merton doesn't make a point of it, but it's a little depressing for those of us who like silent cinema how many of the classics on display here are unavailable on DVD, even after about a decade and a half of the format's existence.[Watch parts two and three (again) on iPlayer.]

set to produce a six-season, open-ended series, American Gods, for HBO, based on Neil Gaiman’s award-winning novel... Each of the six seasons will be of 10-12, hour-long episodes with a budget of around $35-40 million per season, targeted to debut on the cable powerhouse in 2013 at the earliest.

Rachel Foss, lead curator of modern literary manuscripts at the British Library, is set to publish The Narrative of John Smith this autumn. She said it had been part of the British Library's Conan Doyle collection since 2007 and realised it would make a good publishing project.

So, how long did it take them to realise an unpublished novel by an immensely and enduringly popular novelist would make a "good publishing project"?!

Carte Blanche by Jeffery DeaverTuesday: Death in the Sand, Chapters 25-31Picking this back up after an accidental near-week-long break. This time: a twist! Ah-ha! While it's moderately effective, it also makes the whole escapade feel like an aside and so much padding... but maybe it has some as-yet-unrevealed significance. We shall, of course, see.

How Much Do Music Artists Earn Online? by David McCandless(from Information is Beautiful)The revolution in downloading music is often painted as being great for artists and consumers alike, but this infographic handily shows how it isn't great for artists at all. And that's not to do with whether or not they can strike it rich like superstars of old (or new), but whether they can even earn minimum wage. The answer, as you might've guessed, is "not easily".

I ranted about precisely this on Twitter the other day – using that precise line about back rubs – and a couple of people told me to shut up because I was annoying them. Since Twitter is a) free and b) only displays commentary from those you chose to follow, this, too, is madness – like tailing someone down the street only to complain about the tune they've chosen to hum.

Sometimes I feel like I’m hitting some kind of saturation point regards movies. There’s just too many of them, too much availability, too much access. Feels like there’s too many new films coming out and too many old films that I want to watch again, and too little time.

this version is certainly more Hollywoodised. Some hate it, and I can see their point… but it is fun, and it’s plain to see why men and women alike have fallen for Hepburn’s Golightly. A more sordid adaptation of the book might be interesting, but that doesn’t negate the unique qualities of the film.

a surfeit of excellent humour, choreography, cinematography, light satire of both the fashion world and the intellectual world… Indeed, dishing out said satire in both directions means the film never comes across as either snobbish or anti-intellectual… it takes fair jibes at both equally.

Then there’s Humphrey Bogart… At least his character is pretending to fall for [Hepburn] in order to get her away from his wastrel brother. But it actually feels very mean-spirited — Sabrina is likeable enough that we dislike his machinations. Which means that there’s no truly supportable lead character.

Saturday, 4 June 2011

Doctor Who32x07 A Good Man Goes to War [mid-season finale]Answers! But also, many questions!And on that note, Doctor Who returns later this year. I believe someone said September...[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who Confidential6x07 The Born Identity [mid-season finale]That episode title still doesn't appear on the BBC website's episode guide. I'd assumed it was spoilersome, but... well, it's not really, is it.[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist3x23 Strawberries & Cream Part IThis aired as a two-hour season finale in the US; here, Channel 5 have decided to split it in two. Boo. They made a two-hour season finale out of two completely unrelated episodes either last year or in season one (I forget; maybe both), but when it's an actual two-parter... tsk.[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Friday, 3 June 2011

Paul Merton's Birth of HollywoodPart 1 (of 3)Merton's a solid documentary maker, and here he tells the story of the beginnings of Hollywood -- how did America come to dominate the film world, why in the middle of nowhere in California, etc etc. Very good.[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]